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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Egyptian soccer fans secure second political victory

Egyptian militant soccer fans, one of the country’s largest
civic groups, won their second political victory this month with the Egyptian
Football Associations’ (EFA) disqualification of world soccer body FIFA
executive committee member Hani Abou-Reida as a candidate for the EFA
presidency.

Mr. Abou-Reida’s disqualification was one of six demands put
forward by Ultras Ahlawy, the militant, highly politicised, street
battle-hardened support group of crowned Cairo club Al Ahly SC. The militants
issued their demands after first storming an Al Ahly training ground and then
the EFA’s headquarters.

Mr. Abou-Reida, believed to be close to disgraced FIFA
vice-president and Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam,
who was suspended 15 months ago on charges of bribery, corruption and financial
mismanagement, was a member of Mr. Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party
(NDP).

Mr. Abou-Reida was further reported to have accompanied Mr. Bin Hammam last
year on a private jet to Trinidad where the Qatari national allegedly sought to
buy the votes of Caribbean soccer officials in his failed bid to challenge FIFA
president Sepp Blatter for the soccer body’s presidency.

The ultras also accused Mr. Abou-Reida of protecting Al
Masri SC from severe punishment for an attack on Al Ahly fans in February in a
politically loaded brawl after a match between the two teams in Port Said that
left 74 people dead. Mr. Abou-Reida has not been charged with any Port
Said-related offence.

“Abou-Reida’s departure paves the way for Egyptian soccer to
be managed by real soccer officials rather than by Bin Hammam protégés. His
departure also removes one of the pillars of mismanagement in African soccer,”
said a source familiar with the inner workings of the world’s major soccer
bodies.

The EFA said Mr. Abou-Reida, who last year resigned as EFA
vice president, would only be able to run for the soccer body’s presidency in
four years’ time because he had already served two consecutive terms as
president. Mr. Abou-Reida is expected to challenge the EFA decision, which
leaves businessman Ihab Saleh, former Ismaili player Osama Khalil and Luxor
club chairman Galal Allam as candidates for the soccer body’s presidency.

Besides Mr. Abou-Reida’s disqualification, the ultras
demanded the resignation of Al Ahly’s board headed by Hassan Hamdy, another
leftover from ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s era, an end to corruption in
Egyptian soccer, depriving the police and security forces of responsibility for
security in stadiums, continued suspension of professional league matches until
justice has been done for the 74 dead Al
Alhly fans, and unrestricted access to matches for club supporters.

Mr. Hamdy’s endorsement of Mr Abou-Reida fanned the ultras’
distrust of the Al Ahly chairman whom they accuse of corruption. Mr. Hamdy
doubles as head of the advertising department of Al Ahram, Egypt’s state-owned
and largest newspaper. "We demand the resignation of Hassan Hamdy's
corrupt board, which neglected the rights of the martyrs. Hamdy endorsed
Abou-Reida merely to serve his own interests," the ultras said in a
statement on their Facebook page that has some 577,000 followers.

Authorities earlier this month caved in to the demand for a
continued suspension of matches by delaying the resumption of professional
soccer until mid-October. Professional soccer has been suspended in Egypt since
the Port Said soccer incident when rival fans and unidentified armed elements
attacked the ultras after a match against Al Masri in an incident that was
widely seen as an effort to teach a lesson to the militants, who played a key
role in toppling Mr. Mubarak and in the opposition to military rule during the
17-month run-up to elections in July that brought Muslim Brother Mohammed Morsi
to power.

The interior ministry, which controls the police and
security forces, who are despised for their role in implementing the Mubarak
regime’s repression and fought running battles with the ultras during the
ousted president’s last four years in office, agreed last month to a lifting of
the ban on soccer provided matches would be played behind closed doors. The
ultras threatened to storm stadiums where matches would be played if soccer was
resumed prior to the meting out of justice to those responsible for the Port
Said incident and if the ban on fan attendance was not lifted. Seventy-four
people, including nine security officials, are on trial for their alleged
involvement in the brawl.

1 comment:

Another very interesting article. Fan activism, however, has its limits. Egyptian football will not be freed from the grip of political intervention (and the ensuring corruption associated with such interventions), until Zamalek and Ahly are put back in private hands. There are just too many tools the state has over these clubs, whether through land ownership, direct funding and, in Ahly's case in particular, the cross-ownership of Al Ahram, to allow for a normalized situation. The advent of private clubs and player free agency in the 1990s, partial loosening of broadcast rights and organization of fan bases over the last ten years helped a little bit, but not nearly enough.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile